Cities Lining Up To Oppose Public Ed Tax

With Piedmont’s central business district just a few miles from Oklahoma City, the prospect of a statewide sales tax increase is worrisome to city leaders.

“If you have a McDonald’s on Northwest Expressway in Oklahoma City and they can charge you one cent less in sales tax than one in Piedmont, which one would you go to?” asked John Brown, a Piedmont councilman.

If voters approve State Question 779, a one-cent sales tax increase for public education, it would put Piedmont’s sales tax rate over 10.8 percent, which is why Brown and his fellow council members passed a resolution last month urging its residents to vote in opposition on Nov. 8.

Councils in Edmond, Midwest City, Kingfisher and several other cities have passed similar resolutions asking voters to join their opposition.